The Art of Propaganda Comprehension: Critical Thinking During the bin Laden Controversy

Blake Walley, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

I’ve found myself to be quite a bit late to the Osama Bin Laden opinion party. However, maybe that’s not such a bad thing because now that it’s been a while, everyone has had a chance to take a step back and calm down -- including myself.

But if you want my opinion, I think this event was totally staged. Bin Laden was almost certainly dead already and the establishment was just saving his corpse for a future emergency to rescue the system. Why? Because their empire is crumbling apart and they are completely desperate to save themselves. I mean they “killed” him and immediately dumped his body in the ocean? Please, how gullible do they think we are? And this event wasn’t just staged to distract from the “birther” issue like the propaganda machine wants you to believe. This is a multi-faceted operation to channel support for their other illegal wars, to push us into another war with Pakistan, to boost their pathetic approval ratings, to jump start Obama’s re-election bid, and also to distract us from the crumbling economy.

However, I do think it’s incredibly hilarious that we still have a AAA rating.  How much more evidence to people need to see to realize that the game is rigged?


However, something really interesting happened with this latest propped-up media hoax, because for the first time the general masses haven’t been so gullible to the official story anymore. That’s because the corporate establishment propaganda machine and their pundits have become so absurd and cartoonish that they have almost no credibility anymore. And if you think basic cable news is bad, regular network news is almost unwatchable.


So, that being said, my message to the readers is this: be careful of the propaganda, and be wary of anything the establishment tells you about this event. I keep hearing some dangerous opinions put out by some in the media that suggest that it’s somehow bad or unpatriotic to question the government’s official stance on the issue. Now, not only do I find that concept unbelievably alarming and disturbing; that twisted philosophy helps set a very dangerous precedent. That doesn’t mean that I’m suggesting that it’s 100% fact that the government is definitely lying about the irversion of reality, but is there a reason why we can’t calmly and rationally conduct an investigation into their facts before they push us into another war?

Maybe it’s me, but I don’t see any kind of recent government track record of honesty and transparency, do you? I for one don’t buy the establishment BS story about bin Laden; but, regardless, there should never be an excuse to go to war based on some insane idea that we shouldn’t question our government’s intentions.

That being said, I have a warning for anyone who thinks that the government’s word is good enough for them: if our leaders are anywhere near as corrupt as I suspect, but their “word” is good enough for you…and we eventually get into World War III with Pakistan based on false information (like the WMD’s in Iraq), elitist interests, and possible false flags because of YOUR gullibility in believing them, then that war will also be on YOUR conscience, and blood will also be on YOUR hands as well. Please be careful. Start questioning the establishment and stop being fooled.

We need a new Renaissance, not a corrupt empire of elitists destroying the world out of power and greed…

Okay, points made…now are you ready for some evidence and critical thinking?

Let’s face it, no matter what your beliefs are, it should be really obvious by now that the empire is failing and we are headed for the end of the line. Now that doesn’t mean there needs to be a panic, but it’s time to realize and accept that our current system is broken beyond repair and will have to be restarted and restructured at some point fairly soon.  How long do you really think our current system is going to last?

Face it, every society eventually falls, and with our world problems approaching an almost overwhelming level, there is probably no better time than now to start getting calmly informed and prepared for the possibility that there will be some big changes ahead in the near future. The good news is that these changes could very well usher in the beginning of the next Renaissance.  The bad news is that if you choose not to get involved, you will run the risk of being at the mercy of what the establishment chooses for you. Have you ever heard of the quote, “Order out of chaos?” How about “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it?” Well if you want to get a good idea of how those quotes can seriously affect your life and your future, then I strongly suggest you check out my article on North Korea.

Here’s a good question for you: Did you know that there is another major war going on that you might not have been aware of?

War isn’t always just about military actions; war can also be waged on information! Simply put, when two sides give different stories surrounding an event, how can you tell which side is telling you the truth?  Do you believe everything you are being told? Or are you able to spot the difference between what is probably true, and what is more likely propaganda that the establishment wants you to believe is true?

Speaking of the information war, did you know that you actually have to pay to get premium news these days? It’s true! As I said earlier, regular network news is practically unwatchable these days; and even basic package news like CNN, FOX, and MSNBC are getting so corporate and phony that their credibility is falling rapidly. Sure, you can listen to your local phony corporate news clown’s worthless analysis (if they actually give you something), but if you had a choice, wouldn’t you rather hear what Bill Maher has to say? Judge Napolitano? Curious about the Bloomberg Network? Then prepare to open up your wallet people, because intelligent news with intelligent analysis is going to force you to shell out an extra subscription fee.

Oh yeah, that reminds me . . . wasn’t there actually a time when news was supposed to be about trust? Perhaps a network or a pundit you trusted to really give it to you straight? Think about it for a moment; what if there was a breaking news story leading to an emergency situation and you only have time to listen to one source’s point of view of the event before you have to follow through on their “honest, hard-hitting intelligent opinion and analysis?” Here, I’ll even give you six choices:

A. Chris Matthews
B. Greta Van Susteren
C. Wolf Blitzer
D. Fox and Friends
E. NPR
F. Ann Coulter

See what I mean?

Now I get criticized at times for getting news from the Daily Show, but give me a break! Take another look at that list! And believe me, that is only a fraction of the many pundits I could have put there instead. Call me crazy, but what’s worse; cartoonishly absurd “news reporters” that take themselves and their work seriously? Or comedy news that at least points out how completely absurd these people and their news are?

Let me show you some recent examples of why I respect the Daily Show’s news coverage: (note: I am unable to post videos from Comedy Central, so the best way to view these clips is to right-click the hyperlink and set to “open link in a new window”)

Exhibit A: Jon Stewart and John Oliver discuss the corporatocracy.

Exhibit B: Aasif Mandvi discusses how we’re really not in another war.

Exhibit C: Want another reason why I think Fox News a joke? Speaking of cartoonish, take a look at this clip with the Fred Flintstone lookalike Bret Baier as he gets schooled by Jon Stewart (to be fair to Bret though, this really isn’t a fair fight. Fox News has reached such a high level of absurdity, that it is literally impossible to defend the network and appear credible at the same time).

Exhibit D: This clip is one of the more important ones if you want a really good look at just how ridiculous the establishment has become. A transparency award? Are you effing kidding me? Want to know how incredibly stupid and gullible the establishment thinks the average American is?

Exhibit E: This clip can be shortened to its final two minutes (4:08 is a good beginning) This clip shows just how incredibly deceptive the establishment can be, and why this country will be in serious danger if we allow our officials to cleverly disguise and confuse their language like in this very Orwellian example.

Exhibit F: Still not convinced that the bin Laden story was staged? Remember the very sad and uneventful campaign commercial from exhibit D? Remember when I said part of the reasoning for the bin Laden hoax was to help Obama’s re-election campaign? Well take a look at this clip (start about 1:40) to see just how dumb, gullible, and easily manipulated the propaganda machine thinks the voting public really is.

However, although I don’t agree with everything Jon Stewart says (and I was forced to be critical of him once before), I think in the case of the bin Laden story that there may be a certain point where Jon is forced to play both sides. Obviously I can’t speak for him of course, but from my perspective this means that even Jon Stewart has to polish a turd once in a while. And if you are curious to see what that looks like, you can watch here as he turns the Bin Laden “hoax” into a dick joke:

Oh well, what should I expect Jon to do? Have a Howard Beale/Charlie Sheen moment and possibly risk his career over the issue? Of course not. But it really doesn’t matter to me what he truly believes or not. Besides, how can I really be that critical of a guy who can keep propaganda juggernaut Fox News at bay nearly single-handedly? So as far as I’m concerned, whether Jon has to play certain rules behind the scenes is irrelevant. Say what you want about him, but in my opinion he has done far more good then harm.

Speaking of which, perhaps it’s time to take a look at a couple of people that are doing far more harm than good; and coincidentally, I’m actually going to start with one of Jon’s recent guests, Rachel Maddow!

Now I already thought this lady was nuts, and in fact I’ve already written an article on her once before where I exposed her fanaticism regarding the second amendment. However, it appears that my work on her is unfinished as she still continues to pollute our collective consciousness.

Now there are many things about this interview I find bothersome, but I’m only going to focus on the two parts I found the most disturbing:

Once again, please right-click this hyperlink for the interview…

To be fair, Jon played a big role in some of this misinformation as well. You are welcome to watch the full interview, but if you want to get straight to the point, let’s fast-forward to about 3:45.

Jon: “Is he dead? And do you think (it was a distraction from the birth certificate issue)…Really? That’s what’s living in your head? Are you that… just insane?”

Rachel: “The idea that the birth certificate is the real story…and that Osama bin Laden is the distraction from it? Tells you everything you need to know about the people who are really invested in the birth certificate story. If you think Osama bin Laden is the distraction that America needs…I think that puts that in the proper perspective…”

Me: Hey Jon and Rachel, I don’t know what goofball’s quote you found, but you can’t just cherry-pick the craziest comments off some message board and then lump all of the rest of us “conspiracy theorists” into one camp like we all have the exact mentality. That would be as disingenuous as me cherry-picking comments by some left-wing tool like Doug Schoen and acting like he speaks for all liberals. Now of course I can’t speak for everybody in these various “truth movements,” but as far as I know, the vast majority of “truthers” are saying that Osama bin Laden had already been dead for many years.  And, as I stated in the very beginning of this article, the reasoning why bin Laden was “killed” was multi-faceted, and not solely because of the “birther” issue. That being said, this section of the interview was extremely misleading and unfair.

The second extremely disturbing piece of information I wanted to point out follows immediately after. Remember above when I said “be careful of the propaganda  . . . I keep hearing some dangerous opinions put out by some in the media that suggest that it’s somehow bad or unpatriotic to question the government’s official stance on the issue?”

Well, how about I just let Rachel show you in her own words (4:35-4:42).

Rachel: “The whole like; If we don’t see the pictures, none of us will ever believe that he’s dead thing… is a country that I don’t recognize.”

Really Rachel? Are you actually suggesting that we shouldn’t question the integrity of the government? The same people that lie to us on a daily basis? You really think we should just take them at their word even though they just conveniently and inexplicably just dumped bin Laden’s body into the freaking ocean? Are you completely insane? A country you don’t recognize? I mean, historically speaking, isn’t questioning our government one of the things that we are most famous for? Not only was that an insane and blasphemous comment, Rachel; it is precisely what I’m referring to when I mention setting dangerous precedents. You are really starting to scare me lady. It’s bad enough that you want to stomp out the second amendment, but now you don’t think we should question the government? That sounds like you want to turn us into the next China, Mexico, or maybe North Korea! Hey Rachel, what’s living in your head?

Now it’s time to switch gears again, and guess what? It involves more comedy news! Now I understand that there are many people that say comedy and news don’t mix, but I disagree completely.

In fact I’ve personally been influenced by a lot more comedians’ philosophies than the “serious” news pundits. Whose wise words do you live by? Anderson Cooper and Sean Hannity? Or would you rather listen to Bill Hicks and George Carlin? (By the way, the Carlin link is so prophetic it’s almost scary).  So, as far as I’m concerned, if you are an intelligent, rational, and logical thinking person with thought-provoking opinions, then you are just as worthy to listen to as any pundit or politician.

However, getting news from comedy doesn’t always come without problems, and the power to persuade opinion can be dangerous whether it’s serious or not, so on that note, I have one more example to show you:

Seth (Sith) Meyers is the “anchorman” on Saturday Night Live, and he was also the host at the recent White House correspondent’s dinner. Now I’m not here to fault him for hosting this event.  However, I do have a huge problem with one of his recent newscasts, as it absolutely reeked of some of the worst propaganda I’ve ever seen. And, yes, I understand that this still falls in the comedy realm, but, like I said, it’s all about the power to persuade opinion, and this was some very dangerous material.

Here is the hyperlink to the Weekend Update:

I apologize for the commercials (I’ll blame GE) but the specific starting space in this video should be at roughly the 26th minute or the 3rd “marker” as indicated on the bottom of the video.

Comments:
26:35 Antagonizing Qaddafi to bolster support for an unpopular war?

26:57 The bin Laden is not really dead misinformation conspiracy.

27:20 Approval rating ridiculousness? I guess I must be incredibly stupid for being in the the 44% club of people that won’t bow down and worship Obama over a media hoax.

27:40 Let the awkwardness begin . . . apparently the message is that we are supposed to believe that Osama bin Laden was the most wicked man that ever lived.

30:42 I guess we should blame Pakistan?

31:47 Want to know where I came up with the name Sith Meyers?

32:14 The beginning of another awkward sketch designed to bolster support for our inexcusable “kinetic military actions.”

35:22 This quip comparing our children to China’s might seem funny on the surface, but it’s actually helping spread a very dangerous myth. I guess according to Sith, we should be ashamed of our education system since we are not turning our children into automatons the way they do in China. Hey Sith, maybe we should just start putting up the nets around the workplace like the Chinese are forced to? Or how about we start working out complex mathematical and psychological formulas to see just how many hours that we can work a person before they reach their breaking point and attempt suicide? I mean if we could just find a way to get them to stay at that maximum level of work capacity but just under their absolute mental breaking point to where they finally snap? Think about all the money we could save on nets and cleanup! Hey, is that the smell of a freshly-splattered worker? Or do I smell a promotion?

Wow Sith, so did you sell your soul at the correspondent’s dinner or something? Seriously dude, did the C.I.A. write that episode’s Weekly Update for you? What a giant mess of blatant government propaganda! So how does it feel to be a propaganda spewing imperialist for the dark side? Sith Meyers everyone!

Now I agree with Sith that our education system is quite flawed. In fact, I might even argue that our kids are probably being dumbed-down on purpose. However, we won’t “win the future” by turning our children into robots, we will win the future with more love, imagination, inspiration, and creativity.

Here’s an example, but I want you to also think about it from a different angle . . . you see it’s not just the scene itself that I’m referring to. Think about it: would we even have these thought-provoking movies if we had all been educated under the Chinese “model” instead? I don’t know about you, but my guess is leaning towards no. Yes, our education system needs work, but the solution isnot to adopt the Chinese model.  Don’t believe the hype!



Okay, so I’ve covered the reasons why I think the mainstream media blows. So, do you think you’re ready for the hardcore stuff?

Remember the multiple choice question about which pundit you would trust in an emergency situation? Never mind, I’m going to make this easy and copy it again below:

A. Chris Matthews
B. Greta Van Susteren
C. Wolf Blitzer
D. Fox and Friends
E. NPR
F. Ann Coulter

Having a little trouble with your decision? Would you like another option?

Fine, I’ll give you one . . . but the bad news is that it’s a bit of a controversial choice….

In fact, many would probably refer to him as the “King of Conspiracy.” However, many others (depending on individual interpretation), would refer to him as the “King of Reality.” Sound intriguing? Here, I’ll even give you a sample in the video below (warning, may be very intense for some viewers):



By the way, if you click this sentence, it will bring you to an article leading to the link of the Washington Post article that Alex was referring to…

Now, I understand that clip was intense, controversial, and a bit one-sided (at least in this example), but you have to admit that it blows the doors off of what you could expect to hear from the list above does it not?

Okay, now let’s get back to the multiple choice question again; only this time the subject will be about what really happened with Bin Laden….

I know some of you may still be tempted to run screaming back to NPR by this point, but aren’t you just a little bit curious about the mega-controversial interview between “the King of Conspiracies” and major government/military insider; Dr. Steve Pieczenik? (click his name for an impressive bio)

Well here is where it all begins:



Well what about those latest Bin Laden videos?
How about 10 facts that prove that this latest Bin Laden story was a hoax?

Okay, I’m done with that part of the argument!

Bonus fun time!

Now let’s end this article on the bright side with a fun little critical thinking exercise….

Once again I have to give a big kudos to Jon Stewart for lining up a recent interview with the incredibly smart and talented Albert Brooks. Not only am I also a fan of his work, but he also just wrote a controversial new book about “the real story of what will happen to America in 2030.”

Therefore, I will leave you with one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies which of course also stars Albert Brooks. I call it a critical thinking exercise because it really gives the audience a thought-provoking “outside the box” perspective on the bigger picture of reality. Now it doesn’t matter whether this scene is truly indicative of what one could expect to see in the afterlife or not. The point is, how would you fare if your life was actually on trial?



Well that’s it! I hope everyone learned a lot because there is no better time than now to wake up and get out of this modern day dark age! What are you waiting for?

Peace and Love…

Blake Walley is an independent writer hiding in plain view on the strip of Las Vegas.  Visit his Eccentric Perspective blog for more philosophical and political opinion, citizen/gonzo journalism.  

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